Flowers
by procrastinatingpinetree
Summary: "For me?" he guessed. Men were not given flowers, but Gunther could not think of another reason for the princess to be shoving the flowers in his face. She shook her head. "No, you have to give them to Jane."


**A.N. Based off a prompt from otpprompts on tumblr. First time writing with these characters so hopefully they're not too OOC. I just love the idea of Lavinia being the biggest Jane and Gunther shipper. And in case you're dying to know, Lavinia is 11, Cuthbert is 13, Jane is 17, and Gunther and Jester are 19.**

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It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. There was not a single cloud in the sky. This was perfect sparring weather, but unfortunately for Gunther, sparring was not what he was doing. He was currently with the queen, her children, and Jester, guarding them as they were on a picnic. Normally it was Jane that was given this task, but the red head had found herself unwell that morning, complaining about a stabbing and compressing feeling in her stomach. Therefore Gunther found himself watching over the small group.

He smirked as he watched Jester frantically attempt to entertain Cuthbert and Lavinia. Well, it was more Cuthbert that needed the entertainment. Lavinia seemed perfectly fine with the puppet show Jester was giving while Cuthbert complained that the puppet show was much too childish. As Jester dealt with Cuthbert's complaints and tried to appease the young prince, Lavinia skipped away from the two. Nearby flowers had caught the young girl's attention. The girl was not going too far away from the picnic, but she was getting rather close to the cluster of trees that led to the forest. After a nod from the queen giving him permission, Gunther left her side to go to Lavinia as she picked flowers.

Unlike Rake, Gunther could not tell a rose from a daisy so he momentarily prayed that the flowers were harmless. No harm was to come to the royal family under his watch, including harm done by plants. Lavinia's hums became louder as Gunther got closer, and he remembered it as the traditional wedding march tune.

"Hello, princess," he greeted Lavinia, sitting beside her. She had already picked quite a large bouquet of flowers by now.

She smiled up at him. "Hi, Gunther. Do you like my flowers?" She shoved the bouquet at his face. "Don't they look beautiful?"

His vision was immediately filled with reds, oranges, and yellows. His nose was filled with an overpowering sweet smell. Gunther instinctively backed up a bit, the flowers too close for comfort. He nodded to appease the girl. "Very much so, princess," he agreed. "What are you planning on doing with the flowers?"

Lavinia thought for a moment, not originally having a plan for the flowers she picked. "I would like a flower crown. Maybe Pepper can help me make one…" Her voice drifted off for a moment. "But I'll have extra flowers." She glanced down at the bouquet now in her lap, frowning as if it were the flowers' fault that she picked too many. The girl quickly perked up again. "Would you like a flower crown as well, Gunther?"

Gunther shook his head. He did not want a repeat of the last time he had to play tea party with Lavinia and be a fairy. "No, thank you, princess. Perhaps someone else would like the flowers more."

She thought for a moment. "Mommy has plenty of flowers, and Cuthbert would hate these."

Gunther held back a snicker at the thought of Lavinia trying to force the flowers onto Cuthbert.

Lavinia's pleased gasp pulled Gunther away from his thoughts, and once more Gunther found the bouquet up against his face. Gunther sputtered out the few petals that somehow made their way into his mouth.

"Princess?"

Silence. Just another shove of the flowers closer to his face.

"For me?" he guessed hesitantly. Men were not given flowers, but Gunther could not think of another reason for the princess to be shoving the flowers in his face.

She shook her head. "No, you have to give them to Jane." He heard her giggle behind the flowers.

Gunther gently moved her hand and the flowers away from his face. Although the rumors of him and Jane being sweethearts blew over years ago, sometimes it seemed like Lavinia either did not know the truth or did not care of the truth. "Why don't you give them to her, your majesty? I'm sure she'd very much appreciate the flowers from you."

She was not pleased with his response. "But I want you to give them to her. I don't think she'll be happy for me to visit her when she's sick. Last time she shooed me out, saying I'd get sick." Lavinia pouted, giving Gunther her best puppy dog eyes. "Please, Gunther? Pretty, pretty please?"

Gunther sighed. When she acted this way, he knew he had to give in. It was just how the castle functioned. Plus he was also concerned for his fellow squire even if he was not willing to admit it. It would put him a bit at ease to know if she was getting better. "Alright, princess. I'll give the flowers to Jane."

A grin immediately made her way on her face. "Yay! Oh, goodie! I'm sure Jane is going to love them." She separated several flowers for herself before shoving the rest into his hands.

He wordlessly nodded. Gunther awkwardly took the flowers, unsure of what to do with them before resting them onto his lap.

Lavinia began humming as she began picking more flowers with Gunther silently beside her.

It was not until a couple hours later did Queen Gwendolyn deem it time to return to the castle. The flowers did not go unnoticed by the others as they made their way back. A small smile on her lips, the queen was quite amused with how hard Gunther was trying to look serious. Although he had a sword attached to his hip on one side, the flowers were held in the hand on that same side.

Jester was ready to make jokes once he saw the bouquet. "Have a lady friend you want to impress, Gunther?" he teased.

Gunther rolled his eyes. "I'm to be knighted soon. With my test coming up, I don't have time for such unneeded distractions." This response did not stop laughter from escaping Jester's lips. "Anyways these are for Jane," Gunther continued.

That certainly got Jester to be quiet. "What?" Jester was sure he heard wrong. He knew the two squires were getting along, but this was a bit much.

Gunther nodded over to Lavinia. "She wanted me to give them to her."

"Oh. Well, umm..." And there went Jester's gift of words. "I can take them off your hands and give them to her if you want," he offered.

Now it was Gunther's turn to be amused. He heard a few months back about Jester and Jane's conversation about Jester's feelings. The female squire was unable to side step the topic any longer especially with her being of marriage age and certainly being old enough to be courted. Regardless this did not stop Jester's affections for the red head even if he knew they would only be one sided.

But Gunther most certainly did not want to give Jane the flowers. His and Jane's relationship was based off of mutual respect, sparring, and insults. Nowhere did flowers, feelings, and concern fit into that. That is how it should stay. He held the bouquet out to Jester. "Take them. I don't want to give them to her."

Right as Jester outstretched his own hand to take the flowers, the two heard Lavinia. "Gunther," she said slowly, as if warning them. "You have to give them to Jane."

Gunther shot the princess an unamused expression. Nevertheless, he sighed and did not bother to argue. The princess could be as stubborn as Jane sometimes.

When the group arrived back to the castle, Jester was the first to excuse himself, explaining that he needed to put his lute and puppets away. With a bow to the queen, Jester was gone. Queen Gwendolyn and Prince Cuthbert were next to go, the queen ushering her son to his lessons. This left Gunther with a grinning Lavinia.

Shaking his head, Gunther began to walk away. That is until he heard Lavinia clear her throat. He turned back around to face her. "Yes?"

Her arms were crossed. A frown was on her face. "You're not going towards Jane's room."

A sigh passed his lips, and he walked towards the staircase that led to her room. Lavinia followed him, standing at the bottom of the staircase, watching him trek up. He stopped halfway up the stairs to glance down at her, silently asking if he must do this. Lavinia shooed him away with her hands, motioning for him to keep going. Another sigh. He continued trudging up the stairs. One more glance down. Lavinia glared.

There was no way for Gunther to get out of this if the princess had anything to say about it. He knocked on Jane's door. He heard a faint "Come in" and entered after one last glance down the stairs to find that the scene which was somewhat surprisingly missing one princess.

He opened the door, finding Jane in bed with a bowl of half-finished soup on her lap. Gunther made large strides over to her side and shoved the flowers at her before her surprised retort could escape her lips. "I had to give these to you."

"Flowers, Gunther?" she asked in disbelief, not taking the bouquet. "What are you trying to pull?"

He did not bother to respond to her question. "Just take them."

The request went as ignored as Jane's question did. "We already agreed I would take over guard duty tonight for you in exchange for you taking my picnic shift this afternoon. I am not doing any more of your chores or taking another one of your shifts because you give me flowers. Honestly, Gunther. If you think you can sweeten me up-"

Annoyance bubbled up within the male. He should not have listened to the princess. He should have had her give them to Jane. The female squire looked perfectly fine to see guests and certainly not like she was harboring anything contagious. Must have been a twenty-four hour bug or such. Although a part of him was relieved it was nothing serious, irritation took more control. Why couldn't Jane make this easy?

Gunther huffed before she could continue on. "Fine then. Don't take the flowers. I will leave them here then." He walked away from her bed and laid the bouquet on the shelf above the fireplace. "And I am not trying to butter you up, Jane. I agreed on the fair exchange. I gave you my word that I would not try and trick you for more. Have I not proven how highly honor means to me already?"

Sure it was a small thing, but he knew how negatively his last name was perceived. Any small slip up of his would be scrutinized. Throughout the years, Gunther had been distancing himself from his father especially with the fact he was being knighted soon was looming over him. Although he had made sure not to make it sudden enough for anyone to notice, Jane was still able to. And she had been there to see his growth to let her displeasure regarding him turn into some sort of respect. His attempts to distance himself from the connotation of the name "Breech" would not be ruined over a mere misunderstanding.

"Well of course-"

Again the red head was cut off by him as he continued on, "And asking for another shift or for you to do my chores is such a trivial thing definitely not deserving of any flowers. I would only use flowers to sweeten a girl I'm courting-"

Dead silence filled the room once Gunther caught the implication his words left. If there had been a third person in the room, they would have noticed that both squires were as red as freshly picked strawberries. Neither knew what to say. It was as if Jane and Gunther were twelve and fourteen again, and everyone thought they were sweethearts.

It was Gunther who inevitably broke the silence. "The princess told me to give them to you," he explained.

Jane nodded slowly although awkwardness still permeated the air. "Right. The princess." That made more sense. There was no way Gunther would give her flowers of his own accord. Right?

Gunther nodded as well. "Right. Her." He pointed over to the door. "I'll just be going now."

Jane had never been so quick to agree to anything with Gunther in her life. "Sure, go ahead. I will not keep you here any longer. I will be sure to thank the princess once I see her."

Another nod from the male, and he slipped out of her room. He let out a sigh once the door was shut. "I am never doing that again," he muttered to himself.

"Are you sure about that?"

Caught off guard, Gunther stumbled back away from the voice, instinct telling him to be ready to fight until he realized the owner of the voice. "Princess, I thought you had left."

She gleefully shook her head as she followed him down the stairs. "No, I had to make sure you gave her the flowers."

Lavinia received no response.

So she made another stab at conversation. "Did she like them?"

Gunther scoffed. "How should I know? She thought I was buttering her up to take another shift of mine." He stopped walking to point up the staircase to Jane's door. "I am sure she is well enough to see you."

Lavinia's eyes lit up at the news. "Really?" She began running back up the way she came.

Gunther chuckled at her reaction, shaking his head lightly, and then continuing back down the stairs. He was itching to practice his archery.

Lavinia's footsteps stopped. "Oh, and Gunther?"

Said squire stopped and turned around to see her with a teasing grin. He rose an eyebrow, confused at her expression. "Yes, princess?"

"May I pick the flowers next time you're courting someone?"


End file.
